Volume 40
Bar open from 6 - 11 PM (with lots of great N/A options!)
Show 7:30
The Mule @ Devil’s Foot
131 Sweeten Creek Rd
Pigeon Hole food truck will be onsite! You may also bring your own food or do DoorDash/Uber Eats/etc. to the venue.
Presenters
Lacy Hagan
I am originally from Texas and have lived in Asheville since 2003. I own and operate Lantana Productions, an embroidery company. I am active in the Rotary Club of Asheville and enjoy Contra Dancing, planning events, cooking and gardening. I have two cats, Aaron Purr and Jack Nicholson. (He really looks like Jack Nicholson). I also share an awesome dog named Dex with my partner Charley Harvey.
Alyssa Allegretti
Alyssa Allegretti is a Holistic Housekeeping Educator and Hearthcraft Practitioner. Her work sits at the cross section of mental healthcare support, neuro-affirming care, and grounded spirituality. Referred to by her clients and peers as “the philosopher housewife,” the “organizer for organizers” and an “animist home organizer,” Alyssa’s background in sociology, cultural anthropology, psychology, and alternative living offers her unique insight into the all ways socio-cultural context impacts family life.
Jess Young McLean
Jess Young McLean knocked out her permanent front tooth in fourth grade and has never been quite the same. She is the Co-Executive Director of Read 2 Succeed Asheville, a local youth literacy nonprofit working to close the race-based opportunity gap. Jess serves as Board President of AFP WNC and Stewart/Owen Dance and is a candidate for Asheville City Council, focused on bringing lived experience to the decision-making table. Jess grew up in Asheville and like a true basic b**ch, she’s married to a bearded beer brewer and loves gathering with friends over great food, board games, hikes, disc golf, comedy shows, NerdNite, and time in the garden. At age 37, Jess was unexpectedly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes just three weeks before Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina. Her PechaKucha talk reflects on resilience, care, and what it means to listen to our bodies—and to one another.
Jonathan Salter
Jonathan Salter is an experienced software developer with over 15 years in the industry, consulting for pharma companies, working in startups, building products used by Fortune 500 companies, and other projects large and small. Outside of leveraging AI for fun and profit, he enjoys tennis and playing music. He lives in Asheville with his wife Anne, two kids, and two corgis.
Jacqueline Childs
Jacqui Childs has at one time or another, in her long and illustrious life, been an Environmental Educator, Financial Consultant, Broadway Casting Director, Artist, Stockbroker, Musician, Homesteader, Art teacher, Independent Filmmaker, Development Director, Nature Guide, Music Producer, Tax Preparer, Stage Manager, Potter, Gardener, Science Teacher, and Mom, to name a few of her vocations and avocations. Though truly, she abhors labels and pigeonholing.
Things that are important to her include:
Inspiring young scientists to love the natural world
Supporting art and artists- they speak a universal language
Financial literacy for all
Doing small things with great love
Volunteer work, for it is truly the glue that holds communities together.
Jacqui calls Asheville her home where she lives with her husband Jason and almost-flown sons Jonah and Jasper.
Kelly Moore Spencer
Kelly Moore Spencer, PhD, LCMHCS, ATR-BC is a counselor educator and art therapist living in Asheville, NC with her husband and two children. She serves as Program Coordinator for the Counseling program at Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Asheville Center, where she integrates expressive arts, experiential learning, and trauma-informed practice into counselor training. Kelly’s work explores the intersection of creativity, resilience, and meaning-making, with a focus on rites of passage and life transitions, and a commitment to inclusive and culturally responsive practice. She has led public art and healing initiatives, including community murals and quilt projects following Hurricane Helene. As a therapist, educator, birth doula, and parent, she is curious about how humans listen to their inner knowing, navigate uncertainty, and find connection through story, art, and shared experience.
Alexandra Sirota
Alexandra Forter Sirota is the Executive Director of the NC Budget & Tax Center, where she leads the organization’s strategic direction, financial stewardship, partnerships, and staff. She joined the organization when it was a project of the NC Justice Center in 2010 as a policy analyst focused on labor markets, workforce development, and unemployment insurance, later serving as project director.
In 2022, Sirota led the formation of the independent NC Budget & Tax Center and has since coordinated major research initiatives and policy campaigns on tax policy, economic well-being, and shared prosperity. She participated in the NC Leadership Forum on revenue and is a frequent commentator in the News & Observer and Triangle Business Journal. Sirota holds a bachelor’s degree from Haverford College and a joint master’s degree from the University of Chicago.
Mandy Wallace
Mandy Wallace spent much of her youth exploring the woods, rivers, and mountains of northwest Georgia. Throughout her life she has worked as a raft guide on the Chattooga, Ocoee, Pigeon, and French Broad rivers.
She has taught middle school and high school science in both Georgia and North Carolina. She holds a BA in Art from Berry College and a BS in Anthropology/Archaeology from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Prior to Hurricane Helene, Mandy worked for a local Asheville outfitter as an Afterschool Outdoor Program Director and raft guide on the French Broad River. Following the devastating flooding that resulted from the storm, Mandy jumped into cleanup mode and has not looked back since. She leads the “Found Items” program at MountainTrue — reuniting personal items found during river cleanups with their people.
